RICHMOND (KCBS) – Multi-unit housing owners in unincorporated Contra Costa County are bound by law to protect tenants from secondhand smoke, but the county’s tobacco watchdog claims many landlords apparently have not gotten the message.

”Around 60 percent of the complaints we receive in our office about second-hand smoke are from people who are complaining about it drifting into their apartments,” said Denice Dennis, the county’s Tobacco Prevention Project Manager.

The agency has created a so-called “Landlord Tool Kit” to help owners meet new regulations on expanded secondhand smoke protections.

”We really want the owners to be able to post signage, because we know that once you have signage up the owners are able to point to it, and it will be self-enforcing,” said Dennis.

She said that smoking is prohibited in all new multi-unit apartments or condos, and you can’t light on balconies, decks, patios and carports of new and existing units.